Releasing device for poultry-house doors



v R. L. BENNINGTON.

RELEA SING DEVICE FOR POULTRY HOUSE DOORS. APPLICATION FILED APR- 30,I921- ,l,898,829 Patented Nov. 29, 1921.

RUSSELL LLOYD BENNINGTON, OF LAKE CITY, IOWA.

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Application filed April 30, 1921. Serial No. 465,688.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Russnni. LLOYD BEN- NINGTON, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Lake City, in the county of Calhoun and State ofIowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in ReleasingDevices for Poultry-House Doors, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to poultry houses and more particularly to fowlactuated door releasers therefor.

The object of the. invention is to provide a simple and eflicient tripactuated by the perching of a fowl thereon to release the door securingcatch, which door when so released will open automatically under theaction of a weight.

Another object is to provide a door release of this character in whichthere are no triggers or complicated parts to get out of order, being sosimple that nothing can interfere with its operation.

Another object is to provide aremovable device of this character whichmay be read ily taken out and cleaned to avoid harboring lice, mites ordisease germs and may be removed when not in use, if desired.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in certainnovel features of construction as hereinafter shown and described, andthen specifically pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 represents a front elevation of a poultry house equipped withthis invention. Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail horizontal section showingthe releasing device constituting this invention in topplan view.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal vertical section thereof, and,

Fig. 4: is a front elevation of the device constituting the invention.

In the embodiment illustrated a poultry house H is shown having theusual door D for the entrance of the attendant and equipped with asmaller door 1 to provide for the entrance and exit of the poultry, saiddoor 1 being here shown hinged to swing open outwardly and having anoperating cable 2 attached at one end to the free edge of the door andpassed over a pulley 3 lo catecl in a plane above the door and equippedwith a weight 4 for opening the door when the latch which secures it isreleased. The latch here shown for holding the .door in closed positionis in the form of a hook 5 pivotally mounted on the inner face of thedoor near its front edge and which is designed to engage the eye or eyebolts 6 carried by the inner face of the front wall of the house as isshown clearly in Figs. 2 and 3.

The device constituting this invention comprises a box-like vessel 10preferably made rectangular in form and open at one end as shown at 11,said open end 11 being designed to be placed against the inner face ofthe door 1 and the adjacent wall of the house H spanning the jointbetween the door and the house as is shown clearly in Fig. 2.

The box 10 is equipped with a cross bar 12 intermediate its ends at theupper portion thereof on which is fulcrumed a lever the front portion ofthe lever being slightly longer than the rear portion so that it willnormally assume the position shown in 3. The free end of the longerfront portion 1a of this lever is so positioned that when the box 10 isproperly located relatively to the door and its latch said end willengage the bill of the hook 5 when the'lever is swung up into the dottedline position shown in Fig. 3 which occurs when a fowl perches on therear end of the lever. This upward swinging of the front end of thelever will operate to release the catch 5 from the eye bolt 6 and whenso released the door 1 will swing automatically open under the tensionof the'weight 4i and permit the fowls tq. pass out of the house H.

A combined guide and stop 15 is mounted in the front end of the box 10and is preferably in the form of a heavy wire U-shaped member straddlingthe front end 14 of the lever 13 and operating to prevent lateraldisplacement of said lever and also to limit the upward swingingmovement of said lever end when the box is removed from under the eyebolt 6. r

This box 10 not only operates as a protector against night prowlers,mice and the like which might trip it were it not so incased, but it ismade sufliciently deep so that the early birds willhave to wait untilthere is sufiicient light for them to see how to fly upon the lever thuspreventing them from getting out of the'house: before the early morningprowling enemies have been dispersed.

It is well known that chickens fly onto any available perch and afterthey once ind out that perching on the lever will open the door andrelease them no further inducement will be required to attract them tothe part 13.

A house equipped with this improved door releasing device permits thepoultry to get out early in the morning without necessitating anattendant to rise early especially for this purpose.

During the day time if desired the entire box may be lifted outside ofthe house and placed wherever desired and its remova' bility providesfor it being readily cleaned when necessary.

From the above description it will be ob vious that this releasingdevice constructed as shown and described is extremely simple any manhandy with tools being capable of making it or it may be made and soldat a very reasonable price so as to be within the reach of all smallpoultry raisers as well as for those raising poultry on a larger scale.

The preferred embodiment of the invention is disclosed in the drawingsand set forth in the specifications, but it will be understood that anymodifications within the scope of the claimed invention may be made inthe construction without departing from the rinci ale of the inventionor sacrificin b.

any of its advantages.

lVhat is claimed is:

1. The combination with a'poultry house having a door opening, a doorfor automatically opening when not fastened in closedposition, afastener on the inside of said door to hold it closed, a supportingstructure adapted to be positioned adjacent said fastener, a leverfulcrumed intermediate its" ends insaid structure, the front porends,one end of said lever beinglonger than the other and having its terminalpositioned adjacent the open end of the box and a guide for saidvleverto prevent lateral movement thereof, and to limit its upward swingingmovement. y

3. A door fastener releasing device comprising a box open at one end andhaving a cross bar mounted there-in intermediate its ends, alongitudinally disposed lever fulcrumed on said cross bar intermediateits ends, one end of said lever being longer than the other and havingits terminal positioned adjacent the open end of the box, and a U-shapedguide straddling the front end of said lever to preventlateral movementthereof and to limit its upward swinging movement.

In testimony whereof I my signature hereto. Y

RUSSELL LLOYD BENNINGTON.

